National Indoor Football League
National Indoor Football League was a minor league indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, af2, however, that changed briefly with their expansion into AFL markets such as Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles, and af2 markets such as Fort Myers and Houston. The NIFL, based in Lafayette, Louisiana, was founded by Carolyn Shiver. The league started operations in 2001, with many teams coming from Indoor Football League being bought the previous year and folding operations. In 2002, the league added in the teams from the Indoor Professional Football League. 2003 was the most successful year for the league as 24 teams played a mostly complete schedule, with few cancellations. Things started to unravel fast though as teams were announced, folded, re-born, simply vanished, bounced checks and collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Before the 2005 season, nine teams left the league to form United Indoor Football. That same year though, the Intense Football League ceased operations and four teams from there joined the league. Those teams however, left the league before the 2006 season started. The 2006 season, was the most chaotic for the league to that point. Ten expansion teams were added to the league, but nine of them had problems that reflected badly on the league. The most notable situation was the owner of the Montgomery Maulers firing the entire team. None of the ten expansion teams returned to the league for the next season. The 2007 season started with several league-owned expansion teams added in, primarily to supplement games with the returning teams. However, the teams were all poorly funded and had problems. On May 11, 2007, the ten independently-owned franchises banded together and left the NIFL. These ten teams played against each other as independents for the remainder of the 2007 season. Of these teams, 7 have left the league for good. No announcement has been made from the other team owners. [1]. No playoffs were held at the end of the season. San Diego Shockwave were declared the official league champion, however, an unofficial championship game was played by Wyoming Cavalry and Fayetteville Guard, with Fayetteville winning. An attempt was made to start a 2008 season, but failed due to not having any teams willing to play in the league. Teams that left the NIFL to join (or plan to join) another league *Beaumont Drillers - joined APFL in 2008 and has since folded *Evansville BlueCats - now in Indoor Football League *Everett Hawks - joined the af2 in 2007 and has since folded *Fayetteville Guard - now in American Indoor Football Association *Fort Wayne Freedom - joined United Indoor Football, then had assets bought out by Fort Wayne Fusion of af2 *Greenville Riverhawks - now in American Indoor Football Association as Johnstown Riverhawks *Katy Copperheads - now in af2 as Texas Copperheads *Lexington Horsemen - now in af2 *Montgomery Maulers - now in American Indoor Football Association as Montgomery Bears *Odessa Roughnecks - now in Indoor Football League *Ohio Valley Greyhounds - now in Indoor Football League *Omaha Beef - now in Indoor Football League *Osceola Football - now in World Indoor Football League as Osceola Ghostriders *River City Rage - now in Indoor Football League *Rome Renegades - joined American Indoor Football League, then left for World Indoor Football League, but folded before playing a single game there. *San Angelo Stampede - now in Indoor Football League *San Diego Shockwave - Has announced going on hiatus for 2008 but plans on joining another league for 2009 *Sarasota Knights - Moved to APFL as Florida Knights *Sioux City Bandits - now in Indoor Football League *Sioux Falls Storm - now in Indoor Football League *Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers - Joined the Indoor Football League and shortened their name until joining newly created Southern Indoor Football League in 2009 *Tri-Cities Fever- now in Indoor Football League *Tupelo FireAnts - joined United Indoor Football, then folded after one season there *Wyoming Cavalry (Casper, WY) - now in Indoor Football League Defunct teams/failed expansion *Arkansas Stars *Atlanta Thoroughbreds *Atlantic City CardSharks *Austin Knights *Austin Rockers *Bay Bandits *Big Sky Thunder *Billings Mavericks *Bismarck Roughriders *Charleston Sandsharks *Cincinnati Marshals *Colorado Castle Rocks *Colorado Venom *Colorado Wild Riders *Columbia Stingers *Dayton Bulldogs *Dayton Warbirds *Daytona Beach Hawgs *Denver Aviators *Eugene Mercury *Florida Frenzy *Fort Myers Tarpons *Fort Worth Sixers *Green Cove Lions *Greensboro Revolution *Hammond Heroes *Houma Bayou Bucks *Jacksonville Stallions - folded before playing a game *Johnstown J Dogs *Kissimmee Kreatures *La Crosse Night Train *Lake Charles Land Sharks *Lakeland Thunderbolts - won American Indoor Football Association 2007 *Lincoln Capitols *Los Angeles Lynx *Louisiana Bayou Beast *Louisiana Rangers *Lubbock Gunslingers *Lubbock Lone Stars *Miami Vice Squad *Mississippi Fire Dogs *Mobile Seagulls *Myrtle Beach Stingrays *New Jersey XTreme *Oklahoma Crude *Pomona Cool Riders *Port St. Lucie Mustangs *Pueblo Pistols *Rapid City Flying Aces *River Cities LocoMotives *River City Renegades *San Bernardino Bucking Bulls *St. Joseph Cyclones *San Antonio Steers *Southern Oregon Heat *Staten Island Xtreme *Tennessee Riverhawks *Tennessee River Sharks *Tennessee ThunderCats *Tri-City Diesel *Tri-Valley Ranchers *Twin City Gators *Utah Express *Utah Rattlers *Utah Warriors *Waco Marshals *Wichita Falls Thunder *Winston-Salem Energy *Yakima Shockwave